EXPLAINING COLD FUSION
Edmund Storms
KivaLabs, Santa Fe, NM
(ICCF-18, University of Missouri, 7/21-27/13)
What are we talking about?
(cold fusion [CF], LENR, CANR, LANR, CMNS, Fleischmann-Pons Effect)
A nuclear process initiated on rare
occasions in apparently ordinary
material without application of
significant energy that generates
heat and nuclear products without
expected radiation when any
isotope of hydrogen is present.
1
Basic Assumption #1
• CF cannot occur in a “normal” material
but requires formation of a unique
condition.
• This condition is rare, difficult to create, but
can form in many materials.
• I call this condition the Nuclear Active
Environment (NAE).
2
Basic Assumption #2
• The heat energy and nuclear products
are produced by the same basic
process operating in the same NAE.
• This basic process applies to both transmutation
and fusion using any isotope of hydrogen.
3
Basic Assumption #3
Cold Fusion is not Hot Fusion.
Deuteron
Proton
Deuteron
50%
Tritium
Heat Energy
Energy
50%
Helium 4
rare
GAMMA
Helium-3
Neutron
4
HOT FUSION
•
•
•
•
Intense plasma in magnetic field (ITER)
Laser induced plasma (NIF)
Farnsworth fusor using electric field
Bubble collapse fusion (sonofusion,
sonoluminescence)
• Fractofusion (piezonuclear)
• Cavitation fusion
• Muon fusion (energy added as mass)
• Energetic ion bombardment
5
Effect of Applied Energy on Rate of Hot
Fusion
• Rate of fusion in
plasma (Wikipedia)
Heat of vaporization of
Pd=362 kJ/mole = 3.8
eV/atom
• Excess rate using
D+ ion to bombard
Zr (Huke et al. 2008)
6
COLD FUSION
All proposed explanations need to apply to each
method and the resulting behavior.
• Exposure of a material to electrolysis (F-P Effect)
• Exposure of a material to gas discharge
• Exposure of a material to sonic bombardment
(Stringham Effect)
• Exposure of a material to plasma (plasma
electrolysis)
• Exposure of a material to H2 or D2 gas (Arata Effect)
• Electromigration (oxides and metals)
• Simple diffusion through Pd
7
Basic Sequence of the CF
Phenomenon
• NAE must be created.
• Hydrogen isotopes must be
present.
• Hydrogen assembles in the
NAE.
• A nuclear reaction occurs
that emits mass-energy in
small quanta.
ORDINARY MATERIAL
Gibbs
NAE
Energy
NAE
d Gibbs
p
Energy
NAE
Nuclear Energy
Nuclear Products
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Gibbs Energy
∆G = ∆H -T ∆S
G= Gibbs energy (driving force)
H = enthalpy (glue)
S = entropy (assembly energy)
T = temperature, K
High entropy
d
d
d
d d d
Negative ∆G means Gibbs energy has
been generated and lost from the
material. A spontaneous
change will only occur if
Gibbs energy is generated
by a process.
d
d
d
d
d
d
d
d -∆S
dddd
dddd
dddd
Low entropy
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Second Law of Thermodynamics
Energy does not concentrate spontaneously.
Energy always moves from where it is larger to where it is
smaller.
Law of Probability
The greater the number of events required to occur at the
same time or in sequence for a process to take place, the less
likely this process will occur in a unit of time.
Conservation of momentum
Every reaction that generates energy requires an equal and
opposite reaction for the energy to be dissipated.
10
MY CONCLUSIONS
• No present explanation is consistent with all
proposed requirements or all observed behavior.
THEREFORE the CHALLENGE is:
• Find an explanation using accepted laws and rules.
• Find an explanation able to explain all observations.
• Propose a way to test the explanation using easily
tested predictions.
• Find an explanation based on the fewest ad hoc
assumptions, all of which are clearly stated and
justified.
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Basic Features of Proposed Model
(Predictions in green)
• The NAE is a gap having a critically small size that is created
by stress relief. The gap size is limited by the particle size in which it
occurs.
• The hydrogen nuclei assemble in the gap and form a covalent
bonded chain (Hydroton) with release of Gibbs energy,
thereby stabilizing the gap.
• The chain resonates, which allows periodic emission in
opposite directions of many weak coherent photons from each
nucleus.
• The electron that reduces the Coulomb barrier is sucked into
the final product nucleus after most energy is lost, whereupon
a neutrino is emitted without significant energy.
• The nuclear reactions are:
12
Predicted Nuclear Reactions
°First unified model of separate proposals proposed
by other people.(Romodanov, ICCF-10)
°Tritium production is key. (limited source)
°Tritium production is the easiest and least
ambiguous behavior to test.
d+e+d > 4H (fast decay) > 4He + e ~24 MeV
d+e+p > 3H (slow decay) > 3He + e ~4.9 MeV
p+e+p > 2H (stable)
~1.4 MeV
t+e+p > 4H > 4He + e
t+e+d > 5H > 4H + n > 4He + e
13
Proposed Sequence
Hydron ions dissolved
in metal lattice
covalent structure
of hydrons + electron
HYDROTON STRUCTURE
FINAL PRODUCT
14
Predictions (scientific)
Assumption: CF is a single phenomenon related to other phenomena
• The Hydroton is metallic hydrogen (MH).
When metallic hydrogen is formed by subjecting H2
to high pressure, a brief and intense nuclear
reaction will produce heat and radiation when MH
forms.
• The heat claimed by Rossi and others using Ni+H2
does not result from transmutation, but from
formation of deuterium.
• Tritium will be produced in increasing amount
when H is used to initiate CF.
15
Predictions (engineering)
• Power = X*A*C*exp(-B/RT)
POWER, watt
6000
Runaway region
5000
POWER, watt
X = constant related to isotope present,
A = number of NAE,
C = concentration of hydrogen isotope in
the material surrounding the NAE,
B = energy required to move hydrogen
within the material.
• Power production is stable when
production ≤ loss
• Loss = (T1-T2) * (thermal conductivity)
7000
4000
3000
TB small
P(lost) vs ∆T
2000
Rossi
region
1000
TB large
0
Thermal barrier (TB)
Source
T1
T2
Sink
200
400
600
800 1000 1200
TEMPERATURE, K
1400
1600
F-P first to show effect
Also applies to 4He and
3H production.
16
Pd heated in flame (Dash)
Pd on Ni (Storms)
Pd (Violante et al. )
Constantan (Celani)
17
Conclusions
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Cold fusion is real, not related to hot fusion, and requires a significant
change in a material to occur.
The present lack of progress is caused by lack of effective guidance to
research, i.e. theory.
All behavior of all materials using all isotopes of hydrogen can be
explained by a single basic mechanism operating in a single NAE.
The NAE is created as nano-gaps resulting from stress relief that is
related to a common morphology in the surface region.
The nuclear-active structure is metallic hydrogen that forms in the
nano-gaps.
Heat is generated by formation of 4He, tritium, or deuterium,
depending on which hydrogen isotope is present, accompanied in each
case by emission of weak photon radiation.
Transmutation results only as a consequence of a fusion reaction.
18
Energy rate and density
• d+d = 4He, 24 MeV/event
1 watt= 2.6x1011 events/sec
10kW for 1 year = 0.54 gm D2
• p+e+p = deuterium, 1.4
MeV/event
1 watt= 4.5x1012 events/sec
10kW for 1 year = 4.7 g H2
• 62Ni + p = 63Cu, 6.1 MeV/event
1 watt = 1.0x1012 events/sec
10kW for 1 year = 31.0 g Ni
• D2 = 58 x1010 J/g
• H2 = 6.8 x1010 J/g
• Ni = <1.0 x1010 J/g
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